Dangers of Mixing Cocaine and Ketamine

Drug abuse in any form carries a certain degree of risks. Combining different types of drugs further increases the dangers associated with drug abuse. Mixing cocaine and ketamine is no different.

Cocaine and ketamine produce different types of effects, with one being a stimulant and the other a hallucinogenic. This combination of effects wreaks havoc on the brain’s chemical system and can greatly impair overall brain functioning.

Ultimately, the dangers of mixing cocaine and ketamine can take many different forms, some of which can be life-threatening.

Cocaine vs. Ketamine

Violent behaviors are common in those who abuse cocaine and ketamine.

Cocaine and ketamine interact with different chemical systems in the brain, which in and of itself can cause serious problems both during and after drug use. Cocaine stimulates dopamine secretions and produces stimulant-type effects that speed up brain and central nervous system function. According to Texas A & M University, ketamine stimulates glutamate and dopamine secretions, producing anesthetic-type effects that work to slow brain and bodily processes.

Ultimately, the effects from mixing cocaine and ketamine essentially throws the body’s system into a dangerously chaotic state.

Dangers of Mixing Cocaine and Ketamine

Bingeing Behaviors

The brain’s tolerance for both cocaine and ketamine increase at a rapid rapid. With each tolerance level increase, a person must ingest larger doses in order to experience the desired “high” effect. Under these conditions, it doesn’t take very long at all before bingeing behaviors start to develop.

Bingeing entails ingesting multiple doses of a drug at a single sitting. When mixing cocaine and ketamine, bingeing behaviors not only develop at a fast rate, but the resulting to damage to the brain’s systems can be considerable.

“Bad Trips”

With cocaine abuse, users stay grounded in reality for the duration of the “high.” A ketamine “high” rather produces out-of-body experiences and can even render users unconscious in large enough does, according to the University of Maryland.

As frequent cocaine abuse all but “fries” a person on an emotional level, mixing cocaine and ketamine on a regular basis can set a person up to experience “bad trips” made up of unpleasant and even frightening hallucinations.

Violent Behaviors

Ongoing cocaine abuse essentially warps the brain’s impulse control and cognitive based centers, which makes for a highly paranoid individual who’s prone to angry outbursts, according to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. With ketamine’s added effects, the potential for violent behavior displays increases considerably as the brain’s chemical system skews further and further off balance.

Addiction

According to Macalester College, changes in dopamine secretion rates become the driving force behind a developing addiction problem. As dopamine plays a primary role in regulating the brain’s reward system functions, changes in dopamine output inevitably alter a person’s thinking, emotions and behavior over time.

Considering how cocaine and ketamine both work to increase dopamine production rates, mixing cocaine and ketamine on a regular basis comes with a high risk for addiction to both drugs.